Coco Cay Skipped

[Iowa_Vike]

It seams I have read more and more about cruises unable to anchor and skips the Coco Cay stop. It has happened to me once. Just wondering if this is becoming more frequent. Talked my brother and sister and their familys to go on a cruise with me. I know there is no guarentees but would love them to see he place.

[Clarea]

It does not seem to me that Coco Cay is being skipped recently any more than in the last few years.

[coneyraven]

It all hinges on the weather, which is out of everyone's control. On a more positive note, they are in the process of getting a pier built so that you won't have to tender. This will make the skip frequency go way down. Not sure of the timeline though.

[Iowa_Vike]

It all hinges on the weather, which is out of everyone's control. On a more positive note, they are in the process of getting a pier built so that you won't have to tender. This will make the skip frequency go way down. Not sure of the timeline though.

 

 

Good to hear they are working on a pier. Won't be ready when we go but maybe the next time. Thanks for the info.

[setsail]

Since future cruises have not happened you can't say it's more frequent or not

[leaveitallbehind]

It was reported in June that RCI was in discussion with the Bahamian officials to build a pier at CoCo Cay at a cost of $47 million that would accommodate Oasis class ships. RCI stated that the continued development of CoCo Cay was a priority and once approved, the construction timeline would be approximately 12 months.

 

That being said, until that is a reality, missed stops at CoCo Cay will continue and are unpredictable as that would be based on sea and weather conditions on the day of the port of call.

 

In five stops there in our cruising history we've missed one due to unfavorable tendering conditions, so our average of making that port of call is 80%.

[MJonTravel]

In my experience, the period from roughly now through February seems to be the time when I've missed Coco Cay more than any other. All it takes is one good cold front (or other weather) to make it far enough south to kick up the winds and seas and it's just not safe to tender. Honestly, haven't had much better luck with getting to Grand Cayman either. I'd estimate that of the roughly 7 to 10 cruises I've taken that included Grand Cayman, I've actually made it there 3 times.

[leaveitallbehind]

In my experience, the period from roughly now through February seems to be the time when I've missed Coco Cay more than any other. All it takes is one good cold front (or other weather) to make it far enough south to kick up the winds and seas and it's just not safe to tender. Honestly, haven't had much better luck with getting to Grand Cayman either. I'd estimate that of the roughly 7 to 10 cruises I've taken that included Grand Cayman, I've actually made it there 3 times.

 

Don't disagree, but what about the hurricane season - June through November? Its more than the winter months that can influence wave heights and winds. The one time we missed it was in August. I guess we've been more fortunate with Grand Cayman - we've never missed that port. :)

Edited November 27, 2016 by leaveitallbehind

[QueenofKrakatoa]

We've missed Cococay once, and we've been ten times.

[Colonialdame]

Coco Cay is like Brigadoon. It appears every 100 years. Groan. Just couldn't resist. Actually, we've only missed it twice out of around 7 times over the years. If you talk to the crew, they laugh and tell you it happens fairly often. Wind and waves really do make tendering a problem.

[DaisyL]

Anthem stopped there this past week but tenders were interrupted for a period of time after the first few had left. They were loading children first to be in the middle then adults because the ferries were really swaying.

 

We stayed onboard since we've been there before and not really beach people, but the other 9 in our group that went said it was really crowded and not enjoyable for them.

 

But the Anthem was extremely crowded this week during Thanksgiving with 5000 passengers and 1200 of them were kids. The ship handled the crowds well though, but maybe Coco Cay not so much. I would certainly consider this itinerary again and week again.

[Orsino]

We were on Anthem last week (Thanksgiving 2016 week). We were watching the tender boats meet Anthem from our balcony. It was clear that the tendering operation was not going smoothly. The tender boats approached and departed empty several times before finally being able to get something productive done.

 

Tendering that day was a mess.

Tender ticket distribution started with an orderly line, then switched to a free-for-all and for once it wasn't the passengers that caused the disorder. But that wouldn't matter since tendering itself was even more chaotic. We waited patiently for our tender number to be called. After calling #1 and #2 (we were #3) we waited 40 minutes before investigating and seeing that people were just tendering and no one was checking tender tickets. No one ever looked at mine. The sad thing is the people who followed instructions were the ones punished with longer waits.

 

Anyway, I can very much believe that missing Cococay could happen often. It was a beautiful day (a bit of rain, but not much).

 

The real downside of the tender fiasco was that it seems like the ship sacrificed supplies for people. Bars and food were late to arrive. We weren't able to eat until after 1:30PM.

 

I guess I should be happy we were able to get to Cococay at all.

[Iowa_Vike]

Out of our 3 trips we stopped with the first cruise, second cruise we couldn't stop so we went to Nassua then stopped on the way back. The 3rd trip we couldn't stop and stayed an extra day in nassua.

Not bad odds I guess. :)

[BlueHerons]

In my experience, the period from roughly now through February seems to be the time when I've missed Coco Cay more than any other. All it takes is one good cold front (or other weather) to make it far enough south to kick up the winds and seas and it's just not safe to tender. Honestly, haven't had much better luck with getting to Grand Cayman either. I'd estimate that of the roughly 7 to 10 cruises I've taken that included Grand Cayman, I've actually made it there 3 times.

 

Correct, fall and winter weather kicks up the seas making it harder to tender because of the larger waves.

 

Don't disagree, but what about the hurricane season - June through November? Its more than the winter months that can influence wave heights and winds. The one time we missed it was in August. I guess we've been more fortunate with Grand Cayman - we've never missed that port. :)

 

Unless there is a hurricane forming, the seas are much calmer May through October.

 

We make the run all the time on the boat from Fort Lauderdale/Miami to Bimini and the Abacos and cannot do it in the winter because the colder ocean water is rougher.

[Orsino]

Anthem stopped there this past week but tenders were interrupted for a period of time after the first few had left. They were loading children first to be in the middle then adults because the ferries were really swaying.

 

We stayed onboard since we've been there before and not really beach people, but the other 9 in our group that went said it was really crowded and not enjoyable for them.

 

But the Anthem was extremely crowded this week during Thanksgiving with 5000 passengers and 1200 of them were kids. The ship handled the crowds well though, but maybe Coco Cay not so much. I would certainly consider this itinerary again and week again.

 

I was on the same cruise. I'm curious, what made Cococay not enjoyable for them? It rained (lightly) on and off, but the weather wasn't too bad. Was there something specifically bad? We had a great time on Cococay, except for the not having food thing.

[ssb]

The last time we were on Cay the ship crew member made the comment that 60 % of sailings on average were not making it because of rough seas . That sounded like it would a very high number of failings to me . But that is what he said.

The issue has been happening for a long time. Review old treads on same subject .

[chengkp75]

The problem I see with the pier at Coco Cay is that it will be a single finger pier sticking out to deep water, unprotected by any breakwater, so wind and seas will still play a significant factor in whether the ship can dock and stay docked.

[riclop]

It seams I have read more and more about cruises unable to anchor and skips the Coco Cay stop. It has happened to me once. Just wondering if this is becoming more frequent. Talked my brother and sister and their familys to go on a cruise with me. I know there is no guarentees but would love them to see he place.

 

It's all up to mother nature.

[griffy116]

For the first time ever, we will be stopping at Cococay during the winter, and I'm already thinking we might not be able to make the stop due to the weather. :(

[Big_G]

Over almost 20 years of cruising, we've missed Coco Cay 4 out of 6 tries. The last two were our only successes so I don't think it's getting any worse.

 

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[BillOh]

Has there been any confirmation of a pier at coco cay? Any time frame? BTW, I'm 4 for 4 at making it. This past visit, 10 days after Hurricane Matthew, the waters were calm heading to the island, but started getting rougher as the afternoon went on.

[DEIx15x8]

It would be a shame if they built a pier. All you have to do is look at the Labadee comments since they built a pier. While some like it, those that were their previously constantly complain about the over development. I've personally always liked Labadee, including the current, but I've also viewed CocoCay as the desolate island alternative. A pier would be nice, but if they build a pier and then develop the island like Labadee it'll just be another Labadee and not something different. Currently you could (thought they don't) visit both ports in the same cruise and get two different kinds of beach days.

[alfaeric]

It would be a shame if they built a pier. All you have to do is look at the Labadee comments since they built a pier. While some like it, those that were their previously constantly complain about the over development. I've personally always liked Labadee, including the current, but I've also viewed CocoCay as the desolate island alternative. A pier would be nice, but if they build a pier and then develop the island like Labadee it'll just be another Labadee and not something different. Currently you could (thought they don't) visit both ports in the same cruise and get two different kinds of beach days.

 

How will a pier make CocoCay less remote than it currently is right now?

 

It's not as if one can permanently live there or access it easily from another island that has a large population. So there's little possibility that the market area can get any bigger.

 

It's also not possible to put two of the key things that Labadee has- a zip line and some kind of ride. There's no height that can happen. Other than that, the two places are pretty much identical- different swimming places, same water excursions, same number of eating places and bars, etc.

 

Personally, while we've only missed CocoCay once out of about 10, I'd love to see a pier there. Make it a lot easier to plan a day- as if you forget something or you change plans, it's a lot easier than dealing with tenders. And it's a lot faster getting back on board.

[Cruisin'4Us]

0 (visits) for 1 (scheduled) :(

[Ourusualbeach]

It would be a shame if they built a pier. All you have to do is look at the Labadee comments since they built a pier. While some like it, those that were their previously constantly complain about the over development. I've personally always liked Labadee, including the current, but I've also viewed CocoCay as the desolate island alternative. A pier would be nice, but if they build a pier and then develop the island like Labadee it'll just be another Labadee and not something different. Currently you could (thought they don't) visit both ports in the same cruise and get two different kinds of beach days.

 

They have already started to develop the island by adding cabanas and beach beds and the floating bar down the one side of the island that was before just a long stretch of empty beach and nature. I don't think that adding a pier will impact how much they will develop it. As another poster mentioned they can only do so much but I think that they will do whatever they can to try to get more revenue out of passengers regardless of whether or not there is a pier.

 

The one thing that in do like about CocoCay over Labadee is the nice and beaches and the fact that you can walk out quite a distance in the water and being able to walk almost the entire length of the island in the water.